After five years without meeting, Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) will convene on Saturday for the VI Summit in Mexico City.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose late Friday arrival upstaged all other participants of the Summit, has submitted a proposal to his Mexican counterpart, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to create a General Secretariat of CELAC and appoint a consensus Secretary General based in Mexico. President Maduro says the new institutional framework is necessary for CELAC in the context of the debate taking place on the Organization of American States (OAS) and CELAC.
“It is the old debate between Monroeism (Monroe Doctrine) and Bolivarianism, between Latin America and the Caribbean. Our America and the other America, the imperial America,” he said.
Bolivia will also be supporting the proposal of President Manuel López Obrador to strengthen CELAC, in order to replace the interventionist OAS. Speaking to Bolivian media this week, UN Ambassador, Diego Pary said, “The OAS has lost all validity, it has neither the moral authority, nor is it representative of the States to do the work that corresponds to the CELAC.”
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The region’s social movements, under the umbrella of ALBA Movements, made a call for organizations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to take a clear and direct position against the OAS “in order to put an end to this ‘ministry of colonies’ that has brought nothing but hardship to our peoples,” adding, “will not allow any more coups, massacres, invasions or threats. We are not the backyard of any empire.”
The Summit will also deal with two concrete initiatives; the creation of a Latin American and Caribbean space agency and the creation of a natural disaster fund. Mexico, which assumed the Pro Temper Presidency in 2020 and was reelected for 2021, jointly proposed the creation of the Latin American and Caribbean Space Agency (ALCE) with Argentina in 2020.
Nicaragua will not support Argentina for Pro Tempore Presidency of CELAC, saying the government of Argentina has become "an instrument of U.S. Imperialism, subordinated to its hegemonic interests" as evident in pro-interventionist statements made by @alferdez and @felipe_sola. pic.twitter.com/R3ne8In3HF
— Kawsachun News (@KawsachunNews) September 15, 2021
Statements and agreements from the Summit are expected on the creation of the regional space agency, a call on the IMF to ease debt and financing conditions, access to special drawing rights, rejection of unilateral coercive measures, and adherence to the Paris Agreement, among others.
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Arrivals to Mexico by late Friday night include: President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro and Vice President Delcy Rodriguez; Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit; Prime Minister of Belize, Johnny Briceño; President of Suriname, Chan Santokhi; Vice President of El Salvador, Félix Ulloa; President of Guyana, Mohamed Irfaan Ali; St. Kitts and Nevis, Ambassador Everson Hull; President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso; President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado Quesada; President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez; President of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei; President of Peru, Pedro Castillo; President of Paraguay, Marito Abdo; President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou; and Foreign Minister of Nicaragua, Denis Moncada.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who participated as guest of honor in the civic-military parade marking 200 years of independence from Spain, arrived in Mexico on Thursday. The arrival of President of Bolivia, Luis Arce, is expected in the coming hours.
In addition, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, will attend, and the Summit will hear virtually from President of China Xi Jinping and United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres.
Featured image: President Maduro being received in Mexico by Chancellor Ebrard
